


simple

by orphan_account



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Chan mention, F/F, Homophobia, Internalized Homophobia, Laws, Ozai mention, Plot twist Azula Isn’t Actually Straight, Possibly Unrequited Love, Slightly Uncanon, ruling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-19
Updated: 2020-07-19
Packaged: 2021-03-05 04:55:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,008
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25378759
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: azula has to be straight.
Relationships: Azula & Ozai (Avatar), Azula/Ty Lee (Avatar)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 111





	simple

Azula is straight. 

Azula’s straight because being straight was simple. 

Azula’s straight because she’s a princess, and princesses must follow every law of their country to a T. 

Azula’s straight because being straight was easy. Normal. No complications. She liked that. 

See, Azula not being straight had _nothing_ to do with her rejecting her father’s attempts to set her up with a noble Fire Nation soldier to marry, of course it doesn’t. 

She just wasn’t _interested_ in them yet. She didn’t have the time. She’s much too busy with the duties of being a princess, a future Fire Lord. She’s much too busy with her best friend, Ty Lee. 

Best friends, yeah, that was all they were. Two, straight best friends. Simple. Easy. Normal. 

“Zula!”

Speaking of Ty Lee. 

“I’ve been looking for you, for like ever!” Ty lee explains, a certain gleam of excitement bonding from her words, as if she had the biggest news in the world to share. It makes Azula’s heart swell a little. 

“You’ve lost the directions to my room?” Azula hums in reply, sitting up in her bed. 

Ty Lee flops down next to her with a small huff. “No! I just.. didn’t think you’d be in here. Anyways, not important,” 

Azula puffs in amusement at the sudden change of subject, but she continued to listen. 

“As you most definitely know, your birthday is coming up.” 

“No, I wasn’t aware.” Azula interrupts, a snarky grin overcoming her lips. 

Ty Lee ignores her. “With your birthday, there’s a ball.” 

“I’m following.” 

“And to said ball... I found a date!” Ty Lee finally finishes, and Azula wishes she didn’t. 

“Oh.” Oh. A date. 

“Oh?” 

“That’s great! That’s great, Ty Lee.” Azula’s trying to convince herself with her own words. 

She has no reason to be upset at this, no reasonable one at least. Because she’s straight. Very, very straight. In fact, she should be finding her own date. 

“You really think so?” Ty Lee asks, her eyes shining as she talks. 

Azula nods, a little too fast to be completely convincing. “Who is it?” 

“Taeil Kim.” Ty Lee hums her reply like he’s the most dreamy guy in the world. It makes Azula want to find him and punch him in the face. She doesn’t exactly know why. 

“Taeil. He’s nice.” Azula mumbles, sliding off of her bed. “I should probably get to finding my own date, then.” 

“Since when are you interested in dates?” Ty Lee laughs. 

“I’ve always been interested in dates.” Azula snaps, taking in a sharp inhale following her words. “Father has some boys in mind already, actually.” She ignores how uncomfortable it makes her to say. 

She has no reason to be uncomfortable with a boy. Because she’s _straight,_ after all. “I’ll ask him about them, soon.” 

She also ignores the confused look on her best friend’s face. “Oh... well... alright then.” 

Azula drops the topic.

———

Azula remembers when she first learned what was normal and what wasn’t. 

She remembers the day her father educated her and her brother on her country’s laws. She was twelve. 

She remembers the look of disgust on his face when he said that marriage was between _a man and a woman_ only. 

He droned on about that for a moment longer than the other laws, enforcing it in them that anything else, under their country’s eyes, was a disgrace. 

She knows, in particular, he called gay people sick people. That they just needed help. That it shouldn’t be that hard to just be normal. 

And she remembers after that, she didn’t cuddle with Ty Lee at sleepovers anymore.

———

“Are you going to tell me now?” It’s a few weeks later, after their original discussion, and Ty Lee is interrupting the silence between the two. 

“Hm?” 

“Who your _date_ is? You said your dad was going to pick one.” 

Azula almost frowned at the other bringing up the topic. She didn’t want to talk about boys with Ty Lee anymore. 

“Father picked Chan. He’s the son of some important Admiral.” Azula replies, shifting her eyes away from her companion’s. 

“And you’re happy with that?” Ty Lee inquires with a perked brow. 

“Why wouldn’t I be? He’s a very important child, him and I could be a very powerful couple.” Azula insists. 

She’s right, really. She has no reason to not be happy with that. Chan had no logically faults. So, the discomfort she feels is so utterly stupid to her. She pushes it away. 

“Zula, you shouldn’t make decisions about relationships based on power,” Ty Lee scolds. “I mean like, do you think you could like him?” 

Of course she could like him. Because she was straight. Yeah. Azula could like _any_ boy, because she was normal. 

“Of course I could like him.” Azula huffs with an eye roll, like it’s the easier thing to answer in the world. “Anyways, I’m going to rule this country one day. I need to put duty above that whole liking thing.” 

“Whatever you say, Azula.” And Ty Lee is frowning now. 

Azula doesn’t ask why. 

———

It’s Azula’s birthday. 

It’s Azula’s birthday and she’s dancing with Chan. 

Which, should be a good thing. It has to be a good thing. Because Azula must be perfect, and that means liking stupid boys like Chan. 

Being perfect doesn’t mean liking girls. It _certainly_ doesn’t mean liking Ty Lee. Wonderful, amazing, gorgeous Ty Lee.

And Azula doesn’t. She definitely doesn’t. She’s definitely not staring at her best friend dance with Taeil. 

No, Azula doesn’t feel the pang of jealously stabbing into her chest as she watches them stand too close for her own comfort. 

She doesn’t feel like she’s going to be sick when she kisses Chan at the end of their dance, either. 

Because at the end of the day, Azula has to be straight, she knows that. 

Though, in her perfect world, it’s her and Ty Lee dancing tonight. It’s them kissing, them hugging. Them having their own personal happily ever after. It’s always been her and Ty Lee.

**Author's Note:**

> hate this but i haven’t written in forever and it was just something to get the gears going & for me to think again. sry guys :p.


End file.
